North East RadioWatch: July 1, 2002

New 1610 Signs On in Montreal

It's a holiday week in the U.S. and Canada - and a happy
Independence Day and/or Canada Day, depending on which side of the
border you're reading us on - so things are already slowing down here
in NERW-land. Here's what IS making news this warm, humid first week
of July:

There's a new radio station on the air in French CANADA, and it
may even be legal. DX'ers have been reporting reception of
Haitian-language programming on 1610 kHz, which would be "CPAM Radio
Union.com"'s new license in Montreal. But NERW hears the 1000-watt
signal, emanating from a fiberglass whip antenna on Jarry Street East
in Montreal, never received its official go-ahead from the CRTC to
begin testing. What's more, the programming being heard sporadically
on 1610 has lacked the call letters and phone number information
required for a station in test mode. Stay tuned...

(Thanks to Sheldon Harvey of CIDX for supplying us with the latest on
CJWI and the Canadian radio scene...)

From Toronto comes word that CJCL (FAN 590) morning talker Pat Marsden
has signed on for five more years at the sports station, which would
make him 71 (and making a reported C$1.5 million) when the new
contract ends.

Just up the dial, we hear veteran CHUM jock "Big Tom" Rivers is
returning to Toronto's airwaves with a Saturday night show, to air
from 7 till midnight on CHWO (AM 740).

We'll jump into the U.S. in NEW HAMPSHIRE, where we
unintentionally gave our friends at Vox the short end of the stick
last week. Yes, WKXL (1450 Concord) is getting local owners - but
that wasn't meant to denigrate the programming New England-based Vox
has been doing on the news-talker. (Six hours of live and local a
day, to be exact, plus Howie Carr from down the road in Boston.)

In fact, that format will continue; the present WKXL-FM (107.7
Hillsborough) will keep its news/talk programming, local hosts and
all, when it becomes WTPL, "The Pulse." An old-fashioned talk war? In
Concord, N.H.? Believe it!

There wasn't much of a news/talk war in MASSACHUSETTS last
Tuesday; in fact, there was a big gap in the dial for a couple of
hours mid-afternoon. Blame a wayward work crew on Western Avenue in
Allston for the mishap, which severed a fiber and took out the Verizon
switch that services WBZ (1030) and WRKO (680), leaving both stations
off the air for an hour or so - and without incoming phone service for
much of the day.

On the FM side, "The Pharmacist", a/k/a Brian Mulhern, has parted ways
with WFNX (101.7 Lynn) and its network, where he did the morning show.
With the Pharmacist, his co-host Jaxon and entertainment reporter
Angie C. all having departed in the last few months, we expect word of
a new morning show at the FNX network soon.

Up in Lowell, we hear WCCM (800 Lawrence) has closed its little-used
studio on Merrimack Street, leaving the station's programming to
originate from home base in Methuen again.

And down around Foxboro, we hear WDIS (1170 Norfolk) is silent again.
Anyone know what's up there these days?

There's a new LPFM in RHODE ISLAND. WXHQ-LP (105.9 Newport) is
indeed on the air, with transmitter on the Hotel Viking on Bellvue
Avenue, and a promise of some very diverse musical programming.

Among the people associated with licensee "Newport Musical Arts
Association" is programmer Tim Tobin, who brought "The River" AAA
format to the Connecticut River valley at stations like WRSI,
WUVR/WBFL, WNBX and WKXE. We have high expectations here at NERW (and
you can decide for yourself by visiting WXHQ's Web site at
www.radionewport.org.)

Our condolences to a southern CONNECTICUT morning veteran; we hear
traffic guy Tommy Edison of WEZN-FM ("Star 99.9") in Bridgeport lost
his mother over the weekend after a long illness.

A format change in NEW YORK to report: there's word that WNNY
(1380 New York) has abandoned the last vestiges of the Spanish
all-news format that migrated into Spanish news/talk, and is now
playing soft Caribbean music as "La 1380."

Speaking of WNNY, we neglected to mention another bit of sight-seeing
from our recent New York City trip: a stop at 1380's Meadowlands site
to see the latest addition to the New York tower scene.

WWRU (1660 Elizabeth - or is it Jersey City?) has been using one of
the WNNY towers to diplex its day signal for a while now - but within
the last couple of months, 1660 built four little stubby towers around
the 1380 array to handle its night signal as well, presumably
improving WWRU's coverage into New York City.

Heading upstate, WRKW (92.9 Saugerties) ditched its classic rock
format late last week, stunting for a day before relaunching as active
rock "92.9 Rock" on Friday (6/28). The station's still using
syndicated Bob and Tom in morning drive for now.

Over in Warwick, Chris Cordani leaves his OM position at WTBQ (1110
Warwick) to take over mornings at WGNY (1220 Newburgh); his old talk
show on WTBQ ("Roundtable", weekdays at 11) will be handled by
rotating hosts for now.

In Syracuse, WSTM (Channel 3) has applied for new facilities on that
new tower we mentioned last week: the NBC affiliate will drop from 100
kW visual to 41.9 kW, but it will move nearly 300 feet higher when it
changes towers, so we expect little change in the signal we receive 70
miles away at NERW Central.

As WNSA (107.7 Wethersfield) copes with the bankruptcy of parent
company Adelphia, the sports station also has to handle the departure
of talk host Mike Schopp. He left WNSA last week for sports
competitor WGR (550 Buffalo), where he's paired with "Coach" Chuck
Dickerson. Elsewhere in the Queen City, Joe Chille is handling
mornings solo for now at WJYE (96.1 Buffalo), with the departure of
Karen Vance.

And we're sorry to report the death of Scott Robbins, whose career as
a jock included stops at New York's WPIX-FM (101.9), Harrisburg's WFEC
(1400) and several Long Island stations. Robbins, who had been in
Tampa since the early eighties, was found dead in his home there late
last week. He was 54.

A former Buffalo GM is running Millennium's new cluster on the NEW
JERSEY shore. Bill Saurer, who ran the Citadel stations in Buffalo,
replaces Don Dalesio at the group that includes WOBM, WOBM-FM, WJLK
and WADB. Millennium is spending lots of money there and at its
Atlantic City cluster to build a new local news operation, too; we
hear the network will be based out of "New Jersey 101.5" (WKXW
Trenton), with local reporters and anchors at each station.

A sports shuffle in PENNSYLVANIA to report: Pittsburgh's WBGG
(970) has named Fox Sports' Stan Savran as its new afternoon talker,
replacing Scott Paulsen (who's back at WDVE); meanwhile, KDKA (1020)
has named KDKA-TV sportscaster Paul Alexander as its afternoon sports
anchor and evening sports host, replacing Thor Tolo.

Over in Harrisburg, country WCAT-FM (106.7 Hershey) has parted ways
with music director Gwyneth Seese, better known as "Dandalion." The
longtime overnight host at the former WRKZ had been with the station
since it took the format in the early eighties; her position was
eliminated as part of a restructuring at the Citadel station.

Max Morgan of Philly's WLCE (104.5), along with "Jake" of the former
WAXK (102.3 Stonington CT, now WUXL), is headed down the shore; the
two are the new morning team at WRDX (94.7) in Dover, Delaware.

And we're sorry to report the death of veteran Pittsburgh newsman Al
Julius. He was heard on KQV in the sixties and seen on KDKA-TV in the
seventies, when he delivered commentaries (remember those?) at the end
of newscasts; he was 73 when he died June 28.

And that's it for this holiday week; we'll be back next Monday with
(we hope) more!